


A Tale of Two Girls

by twilightfire



Category: Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Character Death, F/F, F/M, Implied Murder, Implied Underage, M/M, POV Alternating, implied rape, third person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-15
Updated: 2013-08-15
Packaged: 2017-12-23 13:20:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,054
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/926932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twilightfire/pseuds/twilightfire
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tifa is a country girl. Aerith is a city girl. Despite their differences in life experiences, they can't help but be drawn together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Tale of Two Girls

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nessie (loch_ness)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/loch_ness/gifts).



> Written for rarepairfest.

The thing about Nibelheim is that it was an isolated town at the base of the mountains. Hardly anyone visited except for those passing through on their way to Rocket Town, and when Shinra had set up a research facility there—which to be honest, didn’t last too terribly long—outsiders were regarded with suspicion, even those who had lived there for over a decade, like Mrs. Strife.

Needless to say, Tifa lived a very sheltered life. Before the town was razed to the ground, the farthest she had ever been had been the nearest mako reactor in Nibel Mountains. Change was regarded with suspicion, as were those who were not ‘normal’, like Cloud. The only exception had been for Sephiroth and any of the men who accompanied him.

Before Tifa knuckled down and moved to Midgar, she didn’t know that two men or two women could be more than friends. Her heart sped up around Cloud, but it was nothing compared to how her heart tried to beat out of her chest and her face turned a bright red whenever she saw the flower girl in the slums.

It wasn’t right, it was not normal to have feelings for another woman. Tifa couldn’t help but cling to Cloud, seeing him as a safe option, a morally acceptable option. She couldn’t be different, not in this way.

That didn’t stop her from visiting the church in the next sector over, ostensibly to view the flowers. The fact that the flower girl—whose name she didn’t even know—is a near constant fixture is not a factor. If Tifa finds herself beating up a few Turks lurking around, well, they were just in her way. Not because she worried about what they might do to the flower girl.

Everyone in Midgar knows Shinra is a bloodsucking leech.

\--

Aerith had always lived in Midgar for as long as she could remember. She didn’t remember ever seeing the clear sky, and the only presence she really remembered in her life is her mother, Elmyra. She didn’t even have many friends, if only because most of them eventually disappeared. Hana got sick; Kessen vanished after he said he was going to try to get on the Plate; Lina left to go to her latest home and never came back. Eventually Aerith gave up on meeting people.

Even after she became friends with a handsome soldier who wouldn’t stop talking about a Turk with long red hair, the trend continued. He left to go on a mission and never came back. She even saw a red-headed Turk with sad eyes hanging around, but he never approached her. He would just pick a few flowers and leave. She understood.

There was another strange person who hung around her church and never talked to her. The black-haired woman visited almost daily, sitting in a rickety pew near the back. Sometimes after she visited, Aerith found unconscious Turks outside. On one memorable occasion, she found Turks hanging from the rafters when she came in to tend the flowers.

While she liked Zack, she had only really seen him as a friend. She knew his heart belonged to someone else. The woman, though, had something about her that makes Aerith want to hold her tight and never let her go.

Aerith tried to follow her once, but stopped when she went into another sector. Maybe someday they will meet properly, but maybe it was better that they don’t. It was a miracle that she still had her mother. Bad things happened to the people she grew close to.

\--

Tifa finally knows her name. Cloud dragged the flower girl home like a child bringing home a stray, his eyes shining whenever he looked at the girl, Aerith. Aerith brought something out in him that made him seem happier. However, there was still something not quite right about him; most of the time he seemed like someone else, and he remembered things that he couldn’t possibly know. Something had happened to him in the time he had been missing, something in him had changed, and it scared her. He never was a First Class Soldier. 

But even though there was also something different about Aerith, it never scared her. Aerith smelled like flowering plants and a fresh rain, not like pain and sorrow and death. Aerith wasn’t as soft or delicate as she seemed: she had a weapon and knew how to use it. In comparison, Tifa was the softer one. She couldn’t heal like Aerith, but Tifa had a far more sheltered childhood. Aerith spent her entire life defending herself and even admitted one night after the girls went to bed that she killed her first man when she was nine as he’d tried to pull her into an alleyway. She had been small and quick. He hadn’t been.

Tifa didn’t even know how sex worked until after she moved to Midgar, and then she discovered all the things that life in Nibelheim hadn’t taught her. Even masturbation was a revelation. Rape was a much more horrifying discovery.

She didn’t like to admit it, but maybe Sephiroth did her a favor.

\--

Aerith finally knew her name. They never had a proper introduction, but when a person was running for their life, that sort of thing didn’t usually come up. By the time things had slowed down and they were no longer in fear for their lives, it was a bit too late for proper introductions.

Tifa wasn’t as aloof as Aerith had thought she was and was actually a rather friendly person. Tifa couldn’t help it, but she somehow managed to come off as fairly intimidating. There were even some times when Aerith managed to make her blush which was surprising. Tifa seemed much more worldly than she really is. Aerith’s stories of life in the slums had horrified Tifa even though Tifa wasn’t new to life in the slums.

Their new mission was dangerous, and Aerith could feel her interest towards Tifa deepening. When they visited the Golden Saucer, Aerith convinced Tifa to go out with her. Neither of them call it a date out loud.

Aerith didn’t know if it would work out between them, but she hoped it will. Maybe this time would be different. Maybe this time, Tifa would live.


End file.
